School me on brushes... here's what I have so far, what should I get from here?

[Andris83]

a 24-26mm synth (or two) is a good starting point, anything from PAA, RR, Yaqi. There are differences between knots, you can find many threads about it. I.e. plissoft, cashmere, synbad, etc are very soft with 0 backbone, tuxedo bit less soft, but more backbone. omega evo, simpson and mühle have higher end synths. I'd start with the cheaper ones, you'll be surprised how good they are. Get a boar from Omega or Zenith too. Excellent brushes for little money, but they need braking in. (anywhere between 10 and 50 shaves.)
After all this, if you still want to, get into badgers, but bring your wallet, especially if you want a big name, like Simpson.

Synths make great lather in no time with no effort. They use much less product than any natural hair brush. The only quality they lack behind is "face feel" and splaying them might feel unnatural compared to natural hair brushes (no surprise). They require a different technique than natural hair brushes.

 

[Phoenixkh]

I started here looking for soaps and brushes.

When or perhaps “if” you decide to explore badger brushes, I can tell you what I did, based on suggestions I got from @Chan Eil Whiskers . Btw, his journal is well worth the time to read. I bought a Zenith Manchurian badger on eBay. I have a few much more expensive badger brushes but the Zenith holds its own against brushes twice the price.

Damn Comfortable Shave

I'm a wet shaver. In other words, I've been shaving with a Gillette Fusion, and real shaving creams, and sometimes brushes for many years (well, decades if I include other iterations of Gillette's "modern" razors with multiple blades). My shaving career began before these razors were invented...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Quaznoid]

I have the same VDH and AOS brushes as you. I’ve had them for more than 10 years. They are my only brushes. I hang them bristles down after each use. I have never “cleaned” them. They do not shed at all and make very fine lather from the bath soap I use. IMHO, you do not need another brush.

 

[Cannon Cocker]

You have seen a lot of opinions from the experiences these fine folks have had with shave brushes. As you can also see they are wide and varied. I would offer this bit of advice. There is little chance you can go out and buy a brush, even with the advice above, that will be the one and only forever. You have to do the work to learn what you prefer in general terms and then zeroing into what really wows you.

l would suggest doing the basics first…the knot. Buy a synthetic, a boar and a badger. Stay in the middle price range, and with a company that has been around a long time. The more you read the more you will see the names that keep coming up. You should be able to keep the boar and synthetic price under $30 and the badger under $100.

Take it slow and good luck.

 

[DesertIguana]

Was watching U/Tube yesterday, a follow up video popped up on Shaving Brushes.

About 7 minutes, with no advertising toward spicific brand, etc.

Good meat n potatoes info.

I gleaned a few idea to ponder.

 

[d_e]

...What exactly was it about the synthetics that convinced some of you it was superior?

They are foolproof.

 

[lancre]

What exactly was it about the synthetics that convinced some of you it was superior?

My personal order of preference if I have several would be Boar>Badger>Synth.

Boars are good right away, but require some break-in before hitting their prime.
Scrubby, but no scritch. After the bristle tips start to split, they can get as soft as any badger. They start below $10.00 and go up from there. I really like Semogue or Omega boars.

Cheap badgers will rip your face up. The absolute cheapest decent badger I've seen is the $25.00 Maggard 2-band. If your budget stretches to Rudy Vey or Simpson territory, they can be quite nice.

For me, synthetics have no soul, but they are very utilitarian. They're the vinyl siding of the brush world. They start around $12.00 and go up from there. Because they dry so much faster than natural hair brushes, they're ideal as a travel brush. That quick-dry aspect also makes them a natural as a first brush, or if you're only going to have one brush, as the natural hair brushes take more than 24 hours to completely dry.

Ideally, if you're going to have multiple brushes, I'd recommend one (or more) of each.
Among my first brushes of each type were an Omega 10049 boar, a Maggard 2-band badger, and a Maggard synthetic. The combined cost for those three about five years ago was less than $50.00.

 

[JimmyCB]

Wow, thank you all for your suggestions and information so far!

Looking like a brush in the range of 24-27mm is probably a good size for me to start with that can do a little bit of everything (I'm not hard set on soap vs cream, bowl vs face, etc yet. I want to practice it all and see what my preferences are once I've gotten some experience!), but reading this has raised some more questions...

Is there a way to differentiate between synthetics? The description of that Muhle STF knot sounds about perfect to me (soft, non-scratchy tips, but enough backbone to still provide plenty of stiffness for scrubbing as well) while I see there are two different synthetics from Simpson (platinum vs Sovereign) and Yaqi seems to be all one. Have any of you tried these brushes, or is there a "showdown" thread that compares exactly that?

I'm still looking at badger brushes too (I'm SURE I will get one or more of each eventually, however I don't want to overwhelm myself from the start), but correct me if I'm wrong in thinking that a synthetic would be a better starting point as a "If I could only have one brush to do everything comfortably and effectively" option!

What exactly was it about the synthetics that convinced some of you it was superior?

I have mostly synthetic brushes and they work up lather really well. I prefer them over badgers. I do have 2 badger brushes (both highly regarded on this forum), but find them much harder to work up a nice scuttle of lather than the synthetics. I know that badger brushes soak up water, while synthetics basically don't. Using the badgers, I find I have to use much more cream or soap and much more water. Am I doing something wrong? I'll keep experimenting with the badgers, but my clear choice is synthetic.

 

[GR5233]

omega evo, simpson and mühle have higher end synths. I'd start with the cheaper ones

The Simpson Trafalgar line is priced fairly reasonably. Usually between $20-$30. Now their brushes with the platinum knots are more expensive but I like the feel of the platinum over the sovereign

 

[frbock]

I've found face/bowl varies by soap. Noble Otter and TOBS benefit from a bout in the bowl. Jack Black Supreme creme really doesn't get much from it.
That works out, 2 dots about the size of those candies that used to be attached to paper in a roll from a 2 oz tube. wet face, and not soaking brush makes a right fine combo for shaving during travel. I have a tub at home, and with not much visible after tapping the tip of the brush in, I get enough later to do a second pass (rewet the face).
I also have a tub of Lonestar and TOBS St. James to swap it out.

 

[Four for Luck]

While learning what you like in a brush Whipped Dog has very good knots he will put in simple handles for a very good price.
My first brush was a Vulvox 1000A, a pure badger. I talked with Larry. We discussed what I likes and didn’t. Beset me up with a 22 mm silver tip Badger. Just what I wanted.
Find what you like, then get a great brush.

 

[Barbarian80]

What exactly was it about the synthetics that convinced some of you it was superior?

You have to go in with the mindset that nothing is superior- try different things and figure out what you like and your preferences then branch from there. If you ask 10 different people what they'd recommend you'll get 10 different answers and they'll probably tell you something different every other day. Every brush has it pros and cons and nothing is better than the other.

 

[panzerkiller13]

I went with a custom from Rudy Vey in a synthetic ivory for my first brush! I ended up choosing a 25mm Muhle STF knot after talking to him a bit.

Overall, it's a very nice feeling brush. Rudy's handle design is superb and ultra-comfortable, but the knot's backbone is a little on the stiffer side of what I think would be perfect for me. I can get it to splay halfway decent if I push a little hard, but the brush seems to want to be used more like a paintbrush for lather! It does work up a great lather in almost no time though, and the tip feel is fantastic!

 

[Ramsay]

I went with a custom from Rudy Vey in a synthetic ivory for my first brush! I ended up choosing a 25mm Muhle STF knot after talking to him a bit.

Overall, it's a very nice feeling brush. Rudy's handle design is superb and ultra-comfortable, but the knot's backbone is a little on the stiffer side of what I think would be perfect for me. I can get it to splay halfway decent if I push a little hard, but the brush seems to want to be used more like a paintbrush for lather! It does work up a great lather in almost no time though, and the tip feel is fantastic!

What is the loft of the brush you got from Rudy? I bought just the knot from him and am trying to decide how to set it

 

[Rudy Vey]

What is the loft of the brush you got from Rudy? I bought just the knot from him and am trying to decide how to set it

54/55 mm this is what I normally set them unless someone wants less or a bit more loft.

 

[shiomoto]

When I started DE shaving years ago and then went on hiatus, I got this van der hagen boar brush with the little apothecary mug and a soap, and this Ever-Ready brush had been in a cabinet at the house with a scuttle for ages. The VDH brush was okay back then, but nothing to write home about and even then had a problem with shedding. The Ever-Ready 1CS I only used maybe once or twice as the hairs were quite stiff and didn't have much give in them at all... I assume this brush has seen much better days and may need to be retired, but maybe I'm wrong (Can it be remade? Is that worth it for an old brush handle like this?). My uncle later got me one of the Art of Shaving gift sets that came with this little badger brush, this was a little softer and more comfortable than the VDH was initially, but I wasn't really blown away by its feel or lathering ability and always wondered if there was a "better" badger-or-other brush out there that would wow me and hold up better.

Note- When cleaning off all three of these brushes tonight, they were shedding like CRAZY, the Ever-Ready less so than the others. Is it normal for a brush to shed a bunch when it isn't used frequently? Should I get a stand and hang them upside down to dry instead of right side up?

As far as what I'm interested in, I'm open to wood, synthetic, metal, or whatever handle materials are out there (I tend to prefer darker/deeper wood varietes, purples, and darker metals, but I don't mind the ivory/horn look either!), and I guess I'd like to keep it under $200-250 unless there's something out there that REALLY blows the competition away. Are any synthetic hairs worth looking into over best/silvertip badger?

I'd also like to get a separate travel brush to keep in my dopp kit, unless it's not going to harm a regular brush to ride along with some other toiletries



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Spending $200+? Just spend $20 and get a PAA synthetic (or any Yaqi synthetics), you will be amazed!